Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 43:14
Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry [is] in the ships.
14, 15. A new section (14 21) commences here with a brief but explicit announcement of the fall of Babylon.
the Lord, your redeemer ] see on ch. Isa 41:14.
I have sent (or perhaps, I will send) to Babylon ] As object of the verb we must supply, the Persian army, the “consecrated ones” of ch. Isa 13:3.
and have brought ships ] This sentence is somewhat peculiar in its structure and phraseology, and many emendations have been proposed. Accepting the text as it stands, the best translation is no doubt that of R.V. and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans in the ships of their rejoicing. Since the verb “bring down” cannot be understood in two different senses in the two members, the idea must be that they shall all be sent down the Euphrates as fugitives in ships, which was precisely the manner in which Merodach-baladan made his escape from Sennacherib (see Schrader, Cuneiform Inscriptions, E. T. vol. II. p. 36). A description of the ships on the Euphrates is to be found in Herod. I. 194; they are here called “ships of rejoicing” as having formerly been used for pleasure. The rendering, however, is not altogether convincing. The “and” before “Chaldans” seems to make a distinction between them and the fugitives, which is hardly to be explained by supposing that the latter are the foreign merchants referred to in ch. Isa 13:14. The probability is that the difficulties are due to somewhat extensive omissions in the text. The word for “fugitives” might (with the change of one vowel) be read as “bolts,” and this is taken by A.V., though without any justification, as a metaphor for “nobles.” It might, however, be a metaphor for the defences of Babylon, or a symbol of Israel’s captivity; “I will bring down the bolts” gives a good enough sense so far as it goes. Another slight emendation which naturally suggests itself is to change “ships” into “lamentations”: “and the shouting of the Chaldans into lamentations.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thus saith the Lord your Redeemer – This verse commences another argument for the safety of his people. It is the assurance to the Jews in Babylon that he had sent to them a deliverer, and would bring down the pride of the Chaldeans, and demolish their city.
Your Redeemer – (See the note at Isa 43:1).
I have sent to Babylon – That is, the Persians and Medes, under the command of Cyrus (compare the note at Isa 13:3). This implies that God had command over all their armies and had the power of sending them where he pleased (compare the notes at Isa 10:5-6). This is to be understood as seen by the prophet in vision. He sees the armies of Cyrus encompass Babylon and the haughty city fall, and then says that God had sent or directed them there.
And have brought down all their nobles – Margin, Bars. But the word in this place probably means neither, but rather fugitives (compare the notes at Isa 27:1). The word used ( baryach), means sometimes bar, cross-bar, that which passed from one side of the tabernacle to the other through rings, in order to carry it; thou a harbor bolt of any kind Jdg 16:3; Neh 3:3. But the word may also denote one who flies; a fugitive; and is properly used in that sense here. The verb barach, from which the word is derived, means often to break away, to flee Gen 16:8; Gen 35:1, Gen 35:7; 1Sa 19:12; Job 27:22; Jon 1:3. Here it means those who endeavored to escape from the impending calamity and destruction; or it may refer to those who had taken refuge in Babylon from other lands, as Babylon was doubtless composed in part of those who had sought a refuge there from other nations – a conflux of strangers. But the former is the more probable interpretation; and the idea seems to be, that Yahweh had brought them down to their ships, or had led them to take refuge in their ships from the impending judgments. Jerome, however, understands it of removing the strong bars with which the prisoners of the exile Jews were protected, so that they would be permitted to go forth in peace and safety. Lowth renders it, I will bring down all her strong bars. The Septuagint renders it, pheugontes pantas – All that fly. So the Syriac.
And the Chaldeans – The inhabitants of Babylon.
Whose cry is in the ships – Lowth renders this, Exulting in their ships. Noyes, Ships of their delight. The Vulgate, Glorying in their ships. The Septuagint, The Chaldeans shall be bound ( dethesontai) in ships. The Syriac, Who glory in their ships. The sense is, probably, that the Chaldeans, when their city was taken, would seek to take refuge in their ships in which they would raise a shout (Rosenmuller). Or it may be, as Lowth supposes, that it was one of the characteristics of the Chaldeans, that they boasted of their ships, and of their commerce. Babylon was, as he remarks, favorably situated to be a commercial and naval power. It was on the large river Euphrates, and hence, had access to the Persian Gulf and the ocean; and there can be no doubt that it was engaged, in the height of its power, in commercial enterprises. On the north of the city, the Euphrates was united to the Tigris by the canal called Nahar Malca or the Royal River, and thus a large part of the produce of the northern countries, as far as the Euxine and Caspian seas, naturally descended to Babylon (Herod. i. 194).
Semiramis, the founder of Babylon, is said to have had a fleet of three thousand galleys. After the taking of the city by Cyrus, we hear indeed little of the commerce of Babylon. The Euphrates was diverted from its course, and spread over the adjacent country; and the Persian monarchs, in order to prevent the danger of invasion from that quarter, purposely obstructed the navigation, by making dams across both the Tigris and the Euphrates (Strabo xvi.) It is not to be deemed remarkable, therefore, that, in the times of its prosperity, the city of Babylon should be noted for its commerce; or as a city exulting in its shipping, or raising the sailors cry – a cry such as is heard in any port now where shipping abounds. The word rendered cry ( rinnah) denotes properly a shout of rejoicing or joy 1Ki 22:36; Psa 31:6; Psa 42:5; and then also a mournful cry, an outcry, wailing Psa 17:1; Psa 61:2. Here it may mean the joyful cry of commerce; the shout of the mariner as he leaves the port, or as he returns to his home – the shout, the clamor, which is heard at the wharfs of a commercial city. Such a cry is alluded to by Virgil in the naval games which AEneas celebrated:
– ferit athera clamor
Nauticus.
AEneid, v. 140, 1.
The sense here is, that God had sent to bring down that exulting city, and to destroy all the indications of its commercial importance and prosperity.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. The Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships – “The Chaldeans exulting in their ships.”] Babylon was very advantageously situated both in respect to commerce, and as a naval power. It was open to the Persian Gulf by the Euphrates, which was navigable by large vessels; and being joined to the Tigris above Babylon by the canal called Naharmalca or the Royal River, supplied the city with the produce of the whole country to the north of it, as far as the Euxine and Caspian seas, Herod. i. 194. Semiramis was the foundress of this part also of the Babylonian greatness. She improved the navigation of the Euphrates, Herod. i. 184; Strabo, lib. xvi.; and is said to have had a fleet of three thousand galleys, Huet, Hist. du Commerce, chap. xi. We are not to wonder that in later times we hear little of the commerce and naval power of Babylon; for, after the taking of the city by Cyrus, the Euphrates was not only rendered less fit for navigation by being on that occasion diverted from its course and left to spread over the whole country; but the Persian monarchs, residing in their own country, to prevent any invasion by sea on that part of their empire, purposely obstructed the navigation of both the rivers by making cataracts in them, Strabo, ib., that is, by raising dams across the channel, and making artificial falls in them, that no vessel of any size or force could possibly come up. Alexander began to restore the navigation of the rivers by demolishing the cataracts upon the Tigris as far up as Seleucia, Arrian, lib. vii., but he did not live to finish his great designs; those upon the Euphrates still continued. Ammianus, xxiv. 1, mentions them as subsisting in his time.
The prophet therefore might very justly speak of the Chaldeans as glorying in their naval power in his time; though afterwards they had no foundation for making any such boast.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I have sent to Babylon; I have sent Cyrus, and the Medes and Persians with him, to war against Babylon, to this very end and purpose, that he might deliver you out of captivity, and restore you to your land according to promise.
Have brought down from that height of power and glory to which they were advanced.
All their nobles; their princes and great commanders, who as they are called shields, Psa 47:9, so here they are called bars, for the same reason, because of that strength and defence which they give to their people.
The Chaldeans; the common people of Chaldea, together with their great men who had palaces in Babylon.
Whose cry is in the ships; who make fearful outcries, as they flee away from the Persians in ships; which they had opportunity to do, because of their two great and famous rivers Euphrates and Tigris, and the several branches of them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. sentnamely, the Medes andPersians (Isa 10:5; Isa 10:6;Isa 13:3).
brought down“madeto go down” to the sea (Isa42:10), in order to escape the impending destruction of Babylon.
noblesrather,”fugitives,” namely, the foreigners who sojourned inpopulous Babylon (Isa 13:14),distinct from the Chaldeans [MAURER].
whose cry is in theshipsexulting in their ships with the joyous sailorscry,boastingly; their joy heretofore in their ships contrasts sadly withtheir present panic in fleeing to them (Isa 22:2;Zep 2:15). Babylon was on theEuphrates, which was joined to the Tigris by a canal, and flowed intothe Persian Gulf. Thus it was famed for ships and commerce until thePersian monarchs, to prevent revolt or invasion, obstructednavigation by dams across the Tigris and Euphrates.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer,…. That redeemed Israel out of Egypt, and would redeem the Jews from Babylon in a short time, and be the author of a greater redemption to his people than either of these, even a spiritual and eternal one:
the Holy One of Israel; see Isa 43:3, holy in himself, holiness to Israel, and faithful to his promises:
for your sake I have sent to Babylon: Cyrus and his army to take it, in order to deliver the Jews from their captivity in it. The Targum wrongly paraphrases it to the sense quite contrary,
“for your sins have I carried you captive unto Babylon:”
and have brought down all their nobles; from their seats of honour and glory, stripped them of all their grandeur and dignity, and reduced them to a low and mean estate. This is to be understood of the princes and nobles of Babylon, who fell with the city, as their king did: or, “their bars” l; for what bars are to houses and cities, that princes should be to the people, the defence and protection of them. Though some think this refers to the gates of Babylon, and the strong bars of them now broken; see Isa 45:2. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it “fugitives”; and which some understand of the Jews, who were as such in Babylon, but now should be brought out of it; which sense is countenanced by the above versions, which render it, I will raise up, bring, or bring back, “all the fugitives” m; others of the Chaldeans, who should be forced to fly upon the taking of their city; but the first sense seems best, which distinguishes them from the common people in the next clause:
and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in their ships; who used to glory in their shipping they had in the river Euphrates, as the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions render it; and so the Targum calls their ships, “ships of their praise”; where, and of which, they used to make their ovations and triumphs; and the word n used has the signification of shouting for joy: or rather, “whose cry is to the ships” o; as it might be, when they found Cyrus and his army had got into the city, then their cry was, to the ships, to the ships, that lay in the river hard by, in order to make their escape; or their cry was, when they were “in” the ships, even in a way of lamentation and distress, because they could not get them off, Cyrus having drained the river; or it refers to their cry, when put aboard the ships that belonged to the Medes and Persians, in order to the transporting them into other countries. Such a howling there will be when mystical Babylon is destroyed, Re 18:17.
l “vectes omnes”, Julius Tremellius “vectes universos”, Piscator. m “Fugitivos universos”, Vatablus, Paginus, Montanus; “fugientes omnes”, Vitringa n “in navibus ovatio eorum”, Forerius; “cumu avibus ob quas jubilant”, Piscator; “in naves ovationis ipsorum”, Vitringa. o “Ad naves clamor eorum”, Grotius, Gataker.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In close connection with the foregoing prophecy, the present one commences with the dissolution of the Chaldean empire. “Thus saith Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, For your sake I have sent to Babel, and will hurl them all down as fugitives, and the Chaldeans into the ships of their rejoicing. I, Jehovah, am your Holy One; ( I) Israel’s Creator, your King.” Hitzig reads , and adopts the rendering, “and drowned the shouting of the Chaldeans in groaning.” Ewald also corrects Isa 43:14 thus: “And plunge their guitars into groanings, and the rejoicing of the Chaldeans into sighs.” We cannot see any good taste in this un-Hebraic bombast. Nor is there any more reason for altering (lxx ) into (Jerome, vectes ), as Umbreit proposes: “and make all their bolts
(Note: This would require .)
fall down, and the Chaldeans, who rejoice in ships” ( baoniyoth ). None of these alterations effect any improvement. For your sakes, says Jehovah, i.e., for the purpose of releasing you, I have sent to Babylon (sc., the agents of my judgments, Isa 13:3), and will throw them all down (viz., the of this market of the world; see Isa 13:14; Isa 47:15) as fugitives ( barchm with a fixed kametz, equivalent to barrchm ), i.e., into a hurried flight; and the Chaldeans, who have been settled there from a hoary antiquity, even they shall be driven into the ships of their rejoicing ( booniyoth , as in Pro 31:14), i.e., the ships which were previously the object of their jubilant pride and their jubilant rejoicing. stands in the perf. consec., as indicating the object of all the means already set in motion. The ships of pleasure are not air-balloons, as Hitzig affirms. Herodotus (i. 194) describes the freight ships discharging in Babylon; and we know from other sources that the Chaldeans not only navigated the Euphrates, but the Persian Gulf as well, and employed vessels built by Phoenicians for warlike purposes also.
(Note: See G. Rawlinson, Monarchies, i. 128, ii. 448.)
itself might indeed signify “to hurl to the ground” (Psa 56:8; Psa 59:12); but the allusion to ships shows that are to be connected (cf., Isa 63:14), and that a general driving down both by land and water to the southern coast is intended. By thus sweeping away both foreigners and natives out of Babylon into the sea, Jehovah proves what He is in Himself, according to Isa 43:15, and also in His relation to Israel; we must supply a repetition of here ( Isa 43:15), as in Isa 43:3. The congregation which addresses Him as the Holy One, the people who suffer Him to reign over them as their King, cannot remain permanently despised and enslaved.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Promises to God’s People. | B. C. 708. |
14 Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. 15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. 16 Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; 17 Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. 18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. 20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. 21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.
To so low an ebb were the faith and hope of God’s people in Babylon brought that there needed line upon line to assure them that they should be released out of their captivity; and therefore, that they might have strong consolation, the assurances of it are often repeated, and here very expressly and encouragingly.
I. God here takes to himself such titles of his honour as were very encouraging to them. He is the Lord their Redeemer, not only he will redeem them, but will take it upon him as his office and make it his business to do so. If he be their God, he will be all that to them which they need, and therefore, when they are in bondage, he will be their Redeemer. He is the Holy One of Israel (v. 14), and again (v. 15), their Holy One, and therefore will make good every word he has spoken to them. He is the Creator of Israel, that made them a people out of nothing (for that is creation), nay, worse than nothing; and he is their King, that owns them as his people and presides among them.
II. He assures them he will find out a way to break the power of their oppressors that held them captives and filled up the measure of their own iniquity by their resolution never to let them go, ch. xiv. 17. God will take care to send a victorious prince and army to Babylon, that shall bring down all their nobles, and lay their honour in the dust, and all their people too, even the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships (for seamen are apt to be noisy), or whose cry is to the ships, as their refuge when the city is taken, that they may escape by the benefit of their great river. Note, The destruction of Babylon must make way for the enlargement of God’s people. And in the prediction of the fall of the New-Testament Babylon we meet with the cries and lamentations of the sailors, Rev 18:17; Rev 18:18. And observe, It is for Israel’s sake that Babylon is ruined, to make way for their deliverance.
III. He reminds them of the great things he did for their fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt; for so it may be read (Isa 43:16; Isa 43:17): “Thus saith the Lord, who did make a way in the sea, the Red Sea, and did bring forth Pharaoh’s chariot and horse, that they might lie down together in the bottom of the sea, and never rise, but be extinct. He that did this can, if he please, make a way for you in the sea when you return out of Babylon, and will do so rather than leave you there.” Note, For the encouragement of our faith and hope, it is good for us often to remember what God has done formerly for his people against his and their enemies. Think particularly what he did at the Red Sea, how he made it, 1. A road to his people, a straight way, a near way, nay, a refuge to them, into which they fled and were safe the waters being a wall unto them. 2. A grave to his enemies. The chariot and horse were drawn out by him who is Lord of all hosts, on purpose that they might fall together; howbeit, they meant not so,Mic 4:11; Mic 4:12.
IV. He promises to do yet greater things for them than he had done in the days of old; so that they should not have reason to ask, in a way of complaint, as Gideon did, Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us of? for they should see them repeated, nay, they should see them outdone (v. 18): “Remember not the former things, from them to take occasion, as some do, to undervalue the present things, as if the former days were better than these; no, you may, if you will, comparatively forget them, and yet know enough by the events of your own day to convince you that the Lord is God alone; for, behold, the Lord will do a new thing, no way inferior, both for the wonder and the worth of the mercy, to the things of old.” The best exposition of this is, Jer 16:14; Jer 16:15; Jer 23:7; Jer 23:8. It shall no more be said, The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; that is an old thing, the remembrance of which will be in a manner lost in the new thing, in the new proof that the Lord liveth, for he brought up the children of Israel out of the land of the north. Though former mercies must not be forgotten, fresh mercies must in a special manner be improved. Now it springs forth, as it were a surprise upon you; you are like those that dream. Shall you now know it? And will you not own God’s hand in it?
V. He promises not only to deliver them out of Babylon, but to conduct them safely and comfortably to their own land (Isa 43:19; Isa 43:20): I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert; for, it seems, the way from Babylon to Canaan, as well as from Egypt, lay through a desert land, which, while the returning captives passed through, God would provide for them, that their camp should be both well victualled and under a good conduct. The same power that made a way in the sea (v. 16) can make a way in the wilderness, and will force its passage through the greatest difficulties. And he that made dry land in the waters can produce waters in the dryest land, in such abundance as not only to give drink to his people, his chosen, but to the beasts of the field, also the dragons and the ostriches, who are therefore said to honour God for it; it is such a sensible refreshment, and yields them so much satisfaction, that, if they were capable of doing it, they would praise God for it, and shame man, who is made capable of praising his benefactor and does not. Now, 1. This looks back to what God did for Israel when he led them through the wilderness from Egypt to Canaan, and fetched water out of a rock to follow them; what God did for them formerly he would do again, for he is still the same. And, though we do not find that the miracle was repeated in their return out of Babylon, yet the mercy was, in the common course of Providence, for which it became them to be no less thankful to God. 2. It looks forward, not only to all the instances of God’s care of the Jewish church in the latter ages of it, between their return from Babylon and the coming of Christ, but to the grace of the gospel, especially as it is manifested to the Gentile world, by which a way is opened in the wilderness and rivers in the desert; the world, which lay like a desert, in ignorance and unfruitfulness, was blessed with divine direction and divine comforts, and, in order to both, with a plentiful effusion of the Spirit. The sinners of the Gentiles, who had been as the beasts of the field, running wild, fierce as the dragons, stupid as the owls or ostriches, shall be brought to honour God for the extent of his grace to his chosen among them.
VI. He traces up all these promised blessings to their great original, the purposes and designs of his own glory (v. 21): This people have I formed for myself, and therefore I do all this for them, that they may show forth my praise. Note, 1. The church is of God’s forming, and so are all the living members of it. The new heaven, the new earth, the new man, are the work of God’s hand, and are no more, no better, than he makes them; they are fashioned according to his will. 2. He forms it for himself. He that is the first cause is the highest end both of the first and of the new creation. The Lord has made all things for himself, his Israel especially, to be to him for a people, and for a name, and for a praise; and no otherwise can they be for him, or serviceable to him, than as his grace is glorified in them, Jer 13:11; Eph 1:6; Eph 1:12; Eph 1:14. 3. It is therefore our duty to show forth his praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to his service. As he formed us, so he feeds us, and keeps us, and leads us, and all for himself; for every instance therefore of his goodness we must praise him, else we answer not the end of the beings and blessings we have.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 14-21: BABYLON HUMBLED FOR ISRAEL’S SAKE
1. Even before Judah goes into the Babylonian captivity the Lord encourages her by stating His purpose to humble the Babylonians -for her sake, (vs. 14).
2. The nation must not forget that He, her Lord, is also her Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer and King, (Isa 51:13; Isa 43:20; Isa 41:14; Isa 41:21; Isa 44:6; Psa 121:4).
3. Of the anti-God world-system, which Isaiah sees manifesting itself through Babylon (vs. 17), it is said: “They shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow” – overthrown so as never again to lift up their head, (Psa 76:5-6; Isa 1:31).
4. But Isaiah hastens to contrast what God will do for Israel, His firstborn, (vs. 19; Exo 4:22).
a. It will be a “new thing”, (Isa 42:9; Isa 48:6).
b. He will raise up (delivering from prison) the people whom He has formed for Himself, that they may truly show forth His praise, (vs. 21; Psa 102:18; Eph 1:10-12).
5. The terminology used in verses 19-20 appears frequently in Isaiah and alludes to restoration and formative re-organization of the Theocracy in which the covenant-nation (Israel) will have a significant role.
6. Thus, “the ransomed of the Lord” will come to Zion with everlasting joy, and praise for God’s wonderful works, (Isa 42:12; Luk 1:74-75; 1Pe 2:9).
7. This is most aptly described, by Peter, as a “time of refreshing” from the presence of the Lord, (Act 3:19-21); a day of, rest, gladness and peace:
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
14. Thus saith Jehovah. The Prophet shews that Cyrus will be but a hired soldier, to render his services to the Lord for delivering his people. He does not indeed name Cyrus, but speaks of the army which he has under his command for subduing the Babylonians. ‘We know that this was accomplished by Cyrus and Darius, and that under the direction of God, who had foretold it long before. And not only does he speak to those who beheld the accomplishment of these things, but to all others whom the Lord wished to comfort by this hope of deliverance, of which they could not have formed the smallest conception. He addresses captives, who, having been oppressed by the cruel tyranny of the Babylonians, appeared to be beyond all hope of obtaining deliverance, and who might be apt to regard those promises as absurd, because in the opinion of men there was no visible hope of redemption. But we should yield this honor to the word, to believe what is otherwise incredible, that we may be encouraged to “hope against hope.” (Rom 4:18.) Such is the power of faith, that it must not be limited to the view of external objects, but rise above the heavens, and reach even to God himself.
For your sake I have sent to Babylon. This is highly emphatic; for, while Cyrus was instigated by ambition and by an insatiable desire of power, and while there were many causes of the war, nothing was further from being generally believed, than that the destruction of that monarchy would shake the world, so that the Jews who were at that time most despicable in the eyes of men, would return to their native land. But God testifies that he will grant easy victories to the Persians, so that they shall subdue the East, because he will be reconciled to his Church.
For the same reason he begins by saying, that he is the Redeemer of his people, and the Holy One, to shew more clearly that he holds dear and precious those whom he has chosen to be his peculiar people. (Exo 19:6.) But this appears to be inconsistent with what we have formerly seen,
“
We to thee who plunderest, for thou shalt be exposed to plunder,” (Isa 33:1😉
for the Lord declared that he would punish the cruelty of the Babylonians, and repay to them what they had deserved; but now he affirms that he sends the Persians to deliver his people. But these statements may easily be reconciled. Though the Lord punished the Babylonians, yet he had also a care of his people; for, as the providence of God extends throughout the whole world, so he takes a peculiar care of his Church, and, as the elect are the object of his special love, so he directs all things for their salvation. It is not without good reason, therefore, that he says that he sent, and that he was induced by undeserved favor to send, because he wished to be the Savior of his people.
And I made them come down. For the same reason as before, he now adds that they shall come down at his command, because, although the Persians and Medes will have another object in view, yet their march shall be guided by heavenly impulse; and in this manner he wished to give an early testimony of his grace to the elect people, that they might not faint under many very distressing calamities. This promise ought therefore to have brought vast consolation to believers, that, although they were despised, and hated, and even abhorred by all, still they were dear to God; because he would at length assist them, and on their account would destroy the kingdom of the Babylonians.
They are all fugitives. (169) By saying that “they shall be fugitives,” he shews that he will give to Cyrus such success, that the Babylonians shall tremble at his arrival, and in terror shall throw down their arms, and betake themselves to flight. It often happens that a very powerful prince, abundantly supplied with military preparations, undertakes a war, but conducts it unsuccessfully; and therefore it was not enough that Cyrus should be sent with a powerful army, if he were not also crowned with success.
And a cry of the Babylonians in the ships. To describe more fully the sudden flight, he adds that there shall be “a cry or noise in the ships;” for they were unable to escape by land. They had, indeed, a very convenient river, the Euphrates, which united with the river Tigris, by which they might easily have escaped. Yet even in this respect their expectation was disappointed on account of the bed of the river being dried up.
(169) “All their nobles, (Heb., bars.)” — Eng. Ver. “From the earliest times ברחים (barichim) has received a twofold explanation, namely, that of Fugitives, as in the Septuagint, and that of Bars, as in the Vulgate. The same question arises in the exposition of chap. 15:5.” — Alexander.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
c. TO BE A PROTOTYPE
TEXT: Isa. 43:14-21
14
Thus saith Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.
15
I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.
16
Thus saith Jehovah. who maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
17
who bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as a wick):
18
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
19
Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
20
The beasts of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21
the people which I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise.
QUERIES
a.
How does Babylon enter into the picture here?
b.
What way does Jehovah make in the sea?
c.
What are the rivers in the desert?
PARAPHRASE
A prediction! Your Covenant-God, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says, For you I have decreed the doom of Babylon. I have determined to send an army to Babylon to execute My decree and I will defeat them and send them all fleeing like fugitives in the merchant ships and battle ships they are so proud of now. Though you are about to go into captivity and be without a human king, I want you to know I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your only real and everlasting King. It is Jehovah who says all this; the God who makes pathways in the seas as He did through the Red Sea when He delivered your forefathers from Egypt. Jehovah was the One who brought that great Egyptian army with its horses and chariots to its grave in the sea. Jehovah literally extinguished the enemies of His people there, like a man blows out a lamp. But, do not let your minds dwell on the past to the point that you wish you could go back to those days. Look! That is nothing compared with what I am going to do! I am going to do something completely new; in fact, I have already begun it. Do you not recognize what I am starting to do? I am beginning to make drastic changes that will affect the whole world. I am going to give living water to a desert-type world of humanity through my servant-people, my chosen, as they testify to My redemptive acts.
COMMENTS
Isa. 43:14-17 OPPRESSOR DEFEATED: God makes a prophetic decree. He dooms Babylon, the oppressor of His covenant remnant, before Judah is taken captive. Babylon is already looming on the political horizon as a pagan world power standing in opposition to Gods redemptive people (cf. comments on chapter 39, Vol. II). How does Jehovah send to Babylon and bring them down? Apparently this is a prophecy of the Persian conquest of Babylon. It was the Persians who after conquering Babylon, decreed and financed the return of the Jews to Palestine (see our comments, Daniel, College Press, chapters 79). The Persians served as Gods instrument to execute His deliverance of Judah. There is a great deal of irony in the predicted Babylonian fall. They will flee like fugitives. Once proud, secure, self-sufficient, powerful Babylon who made so many flee their homelands as fugitives will suffer the same fate (see Habakkuks description of the fall of Babylon). Even more ironic, the great fleet of merchant ships and navy vessels which made Babylon so rich and powerful, and which brought so much gladness to the hearts of the Babylonians, will be jammed full of terrified, fleeing fugitives. The Chaldeans, like the Assyrians, had mighty warrior kings. They were rich, powerful and pompous. They were feared and idolized by all the world. But Israels king is King of kings! He is Jehovah, Creator, Judge, Holy One and Redeemer. Though Israel might appear to be without a king during the captivity in Babylon, her King would demonstrate His power time and time again (cf. Dan. 2:47; Dan. 3:28; Dan. 4:37; Dan. 6:25-27). Finally, He would demonstrate His sovereignty in the restoration of the nation under Ezra, Zerubbabel and Nehemiah (cf. 2Ch. 36:22-23; Ezr. 1:1-4). The way in the sea in Isa. 43:16-17 is a metaphorical allusion to Jehovahs deliverance of the children of Israel through the Red Sea under the leadership of Moses. Just as Jehovah overcame natural obstacles and powerful, wicked human oppressors when He delivered Israel from Egypt, so He will deliver Israel from her captivities under Assyria and Babylon. That mighty Egyptian army with its chariots of war, before which Israel trembled and cringed, lay extinct at the bottom of the Red Sea. So, Jehovah will snuff out the mighty Babylonian empire in one night! (cf. Dan. 5:1-30).
Isa. 43:18-21 OPPRESSED DELIVERED: But, as grand and glorious as these great national deliverances are, they are warned they should not let their hopes rest on them. God is going to do a new thing much more glorious. The new thing is apparently not just the deliverance from the Babylonian captivity, though that is its starting place. It must be more than that for the deliverance from captivity is not any more glorious than the exodus from Egypt. The new thing in itself is the wondrous new redemption accomplished in the death and resurrection of the Messiah (cf. Isa. 42:9-10; Isa. 48:6; Isa. 62:2; Isa. 65:17; Isa. 66:22; Eze. 11:19; Eze. 36:26; Eze. 18:31, for the new thing God is going to do in the messianic kingdom). Even now it was beginning to be apparent to those who had the faith to see it. The revelations of Ezekiel (4047) and Daniel (712) graphically outlined the mission of Israel as prototypical of the redemption for all mankind from their captivity in sin. Men of faith, like Daniel, recognized that God was already beginning to do this new thing. They anxiously desired to know when it would come to its completion (cf. Dan. 12:5 f; 1Pe. 1:10-12). The figurative language describing a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, is a favorite vehicle of prophetic literature to describe the messianic blessedness (cf. Isa. 19:23; Isa. 35:1-10; Isa. 51:3, etc.). When God shall have finally and fully regenerated men, nature itself shall also be redeemed (cf. Rom. 8:18-25). This, too, is a much used expression of the prophets to show that, as Keil and Delitzsch say, when the sufferings of the people of God shall be brought to an end, the sufferings of creation will also terminate; for humanity is the heart of the universe, and the people of God (understanding by this the people of God according to the Spirit) are the heart of humanity. In other words, the consummation of Gods redemptive work will result in the reclamation of men and nature which were cursed in the garden of Eden because of sin. God is working in regenerate men by the power of the gospel received and lived by faith. Regenerated man will then be at harmony with his God, himself and Gods creation. At this point, God will redeem his natural creation and create a new heaven and a new earth (2Pe. 3:13). Thus, Paradise will be restored. But it is not the surroundings, the natural environment that is significant. God can make that over by sheer force. He has made man with a free will to choose his own destiny. The remaking of man is all important. Heaven will not be heaven so much for that natural place in which we find ourselves as that nature which is found in us. No better commentary on Isa. 43:21 can be found than that in 1Pe. 2:9 : But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Gods own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
QUIZ
1.
How did God send to Babylon and bring them down?
2.
What is the irony in the prediction of Babylons fall?
3.
Why tell Israel not to remember the former things?
4.
What is the new thing?
5.
Why mention the beasts of the field honoring Jehovah?
6.
When did Israel finally fulfill its purpose to set forth the praise of Jehovah?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(14) I have sent to Babylon.For the first time in 2 Isaiah, the place of exile is named. For have brought down all their nobles read, I will bring them all down as fugitives. The marginal bars represents a various reading, defences, in the sense of defenders.
The Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.Better, into the ships of their shoutingi.e., the ships which used to echo with the exulting joy of sailors. The word for shouting is purposely chosen to suggest the thought that there will be a shout of another kind, even the wailing cry of despair. The commerce of Babylon, and its position on the Euphrates, made it, as it were, the Venice of the earlier East (Herod., 1:194). The prophet sees the inhabitants of Babylon fleeing in their ships from the presence of their conqueror.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14, 15. For your sake Many a time the Jews had possessed signal proofs of divine interference in their behalf. In this Babylonian deliverance, Jehovah’s character occurs to their minds as more than deliverer from earthly enemies. He is the Holy One who spiritually redeems and saves.
I have sent Cyrus and the Medes are instruments sent of God to Babylon; so obviously sent in their behalf that it amounts to a sure token of God’s spiritual not national purpose in the case.
Brought down all their nobles Both verbs, here, are prophetic preterits, implying “nobles” in the sense of foreign merchants living in Babylon for a time the crowd that naturally gathers at a great emporium. These, with the Chaldeans, become fugitives from the city on the invasion of an enemy. See Isa 13:14.
Whose cry is in the ships The rivers and canals at Babylon seem to have made the dwellers a maritime people. The cry of sailors conveying away the fleeing people seems referred to.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Included In His Redeeming Activity Will Be His Judgment on The Pernicious Influence of the Rulers of Babylon When He Will ‘Bring Them Down’ As Fugitives In Their Ships ( Isa 43:14-21 ).
Having declared how Yahweh is going to use Egypt and Cush as a ransom in order to rescue Judah, and how He is going to bring all the worldwide exiles from every part of the world (Isa 43:5-7), Isaiah now briefly turns his attention for the first time since chapter 39 to Babylon. He saw them as standing there as a threat from which God’s people need to be ‘redeemed’, a threat arising from what it has always represented, but enhanced by the fact that it had become a centre of operations for the Assyrians. So Yahweh will redeem His people from under the influence of Babylon, and exact vengeance on them also, by scattering them. He will remove the threat of Babylon.
If we wish to understand what Isaiah is saying here we must first try to climb into his shoes. We must ask, how did he at this time view Babylon? There is in fact no hint here of an independent Babylonian empire or of exiles. We must not read the later Nebuchadnezzar in here. His concern here is with the trouble that Babylon are being in one way or another to His people at this point in time, and we see from elsewhere in Isaiah that it is their religious influence that is the continual problem (Isa 47:9-13) from which Judah is to flee (Isa 48:20-21). What then is the background?
In chapters 13-14 Babylon was revealed, not only as one of the conspirators against Assyria, but as the enemy of all peoples. It may have at times been in submission to Assyria, but it was still in some ways the great earthly rival to God (Isa 13:19). It spoke of all that was contrary to God in the world. With its blasphemous kings (Isa 14:12-14) its pernicious influence reached out to the world. And as chapter Isa 47:8-15 reveals they were to be seen as the source of much of the false religion that was besetting God’s people. This in fact ties in with what Isaiah knew from the traditions of his people of how Babylon had from the first been the enemy of all men. It had established the first empire in connection with Assyria (Gen 10:10). It had caused the scattering of peoples throughout the world and been the builder of a tower into heaven (Gen 11:1-9). It had sought to threaten Abraham’s land (Gen 14:1). It had always been a rebel. And then God had made him aware of the ultimate threat of Babylon, partly incited by the visit of ambassadors to Hezekiah (Isa 39:1-4), a visit that had filled him with dread. As he informed them, Judah could be sure that Babylon would only seek to swallow up His people and take possession of their wealth (Isa 39:6-7). So he would see anything that came from the direction of Babylon as a major threat, and it is probable that in his later days Assyria were actually exercising their influence over Judah through Babylon, for Esarhaddon has rebuilt it and when Manasseh was arraigned he was taken there.
Note On The Influence of Babylon at This Time.
While we do not have any knowledge of any depredations against Judah by Babylon in the days of Hezekiah, especially in the times when it was free from the Assyrian yoke (in for example 721-710 BC, and around 705 BC and after), there may have been some, for Isaiah clearly saw their influence as undesirable, and was afraid of it, and we do know that later, under Assyrian rule, Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, was taken as hostage to Babylon. This could surely only be because at this time Babylon was in some way acting as Judah’s overseer on behalf of Assyria. And this hostage taking could only have resulted from reprisals for an unsatisfactory response to Assyria’s approaches. It is quite possible that at the time when Manasseh was seized there would have been much looting and possibly grave damage done to the Temple by the Babylonian troops with a view to obtaining what silver and gold was left in it (2Ch 33:11), for we can hardly doubt that Jerusalem would have put up some resistance, especially when they remembered what had happened the last time it was surrounded by the forces of the king of Assyria.
Nor need we doubt that Babylon, as a branch of the Assyrian empire, posed a continual threat and menace to Manasseh throughout his reign. For Esarhaddon, Sennacherib’s son, had been made crown prince of Babylon, and when he became King of Assyria, his son Samas-sum-ukin in turn became the prince of Babylon, and in time even sought to establish himself there independently as king. It would seem therefore, in view of what happened to Manasseh, that, under Assyria, Babylon under the crown princes had at this time some kind of jurisdiction over Judah, and was very much affecting its welfare.
Thus we can be sure that at times through this period the belligerency and influence of Babylon was exerted against Judah. It may have happened in the periods when Babylon was independent, but it would probably be more so when they were under Assyrian rule. And with that belligerency would go the attempt to make them conform to the superstitious practises connected with Babylon (Isa 47:12-13).
This is why as His people’s Redeemer Yahweh purposes swift judgment on Babylon. They are not to be allowed to continue to menace or influence His people. But note that there is here no mention of exiles in Babylon. Babylon is not seen by Isaiah as a major recipient of exiles. The importance of Babylon to Isaiah was not the much later captivity of Nebuchadnezzar, of which he gives no hint, it was in what Babylon represented, and the influence it exerted during the reigns of Ahaz, Hezekiah and Manasseh. As chapter 47 will make clear, Babylon was the stronghold of idolatry and widespread occult activity. It was they who had formed the world’s first empire (Gen 10:8-11), and built a tower to heaven and caused the world to be divided (Gen 11:1-9). And even now the tentacles of their influence reached everywhere, assisted by their Assyrian masters. They were the bastion of the gods (once Babylon was dealt with in chapter 47 the almost continual reference to the false gods ceases until the wholly new situation of chapter 57). And, at least while under Assyria, they were clearly seen as a centre of belligerence against Judah, as what happened to Manasseh demonstrates.
End of note.
Two past incidents are probably in his mind as Isaiah thinks of Israel’s redemption. The act of Yahweh as Kinsman Redeemer (‘your Redeemer’) would be a reminder of how Abraham acted as Lot’s kinsman-redeemer in Genesis 14 when bringing about the deliverance of captives and booty from a Babylonian king with his allies, an incident that we have been specifically reminded of in Isa 41:2. Here then we may again see the ravagers and thieves from Babylon, who would this time come and rob Jerusalem and take captives (2Ch 22:11). And now they were to be hunted down by Israel’s Kinsman Redeemer (Isa 43:14) and made to restore their captives. And it would be a reminder of the deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt by the exercise of miraculous power (Exodus 14-15).
Isa 43:14
‘Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
“For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring all of them down as fugitives,
Even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing.”
I am Yahweh your Holy One
The Creator of Israel, your King.”
Note how this sounds like a quick punitive strike against Babylon as a result of regarding it as a rather distant and bad influence, and a thorn in Judah’s side, and not like the description of the destruction of a mighty empire in which they have been exiled. And this even though we know that some exiles from Israel were in Babylon (Isa 11:11). The opening words are important. The redemption was for Judah’s sake. But a Redeemer is only needed when people are in trouble, so clearly Babylon are seen here as somehow oppressing and influencing Judah, so that Judah need to be ‘redeemed’ from their control and influence.
Note also that Yahweh has ‘sent to Babylon’. He is speaking as though located in Judah, but acting in Babylon for the sake of a people resident in Judah. Having prophesied what the king of Babylon would do in robbing Jerusalem of all its possessions (Isa 39:6-7), which itself would result in the looting the temple in order to get at its gold and silver, (the king’s house was connected with the Temple), and no doubt already aware of Babylonian menaces, Isaiah is now looking ahead to God’s vengeance on them for it. He wanted His people to know that while Babylon, with its continual threat as their regional controller, might harass them and influence them to their harm, it would not get away with its behaviour. It would be harassed in turn.
So as their Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, Yahweh would send (the verb is intensive (piel) denoting His authority over Babylon) to Babylon and ‘bring all of them down as fugitives’. For ‘bring down’ compare Amo 3:11; Oba 1:4. The thought is not of being brought to Canaan but of being brought down to defeat and humiliation. They had behaved badly towards Israel/Judah with their pernicious influences and made some of them fugitives, thus will the leaders in Babylon themselves become fugitives. ‘The Chaldeans’ were originally from south Babylonia but the word gradually came to signify the whole land. The ships of rejoicing may have been pleasure vessels on the Euphrates, now used as a means of flight because of their dire straits. Or it could simply be ships that they were proud of. But the point is that what should have been ships which gave them pleasure had become the means of their desperate escape.
This is possibly prophesying the end of Samas-sum-ukin and his followers when they rose against his brother (see above). Or, depending on when Isaiah wrote this, it could be describing the earlier flight of Merodach Baladan from Sennacherib, for he fled across the Persian Gulf by ship, and the ships that were to be sent in pursuit of him were only called off when it was learned that he had died. Isaiah may well have seen that as symbolic of Yahweh’s control over Babylon.
Thus by His treatment of Babylon which has misused His people, Israel/Judah will know that He is Yahweh, the Unique One, the Set Apart One (set apart from all others), the One especially set apart by His moral purity, and Israel’s Creator (Isa 43:1), Who brought Israel as it were out of nothing. And that He is their King, Who adopted them as His covenant people at Sinai and watches over them, and reveals Himself as King over all.
It should be noted that there is no idea here of the collapse of a mighty empire, but of a punitive stroke against Babylon which would cause its chief men to flee. It is very possible that Isaiah at this stage would have in mind how Abraham as kinsman redeemer had successfully gone against the king of Babylon, put him and his allies to rout, and delivered God’s people (Isa 41:2; Genesis 14). Now Yahweh was to be Israel’s Kinsman-redeemer, delivering them from the invader. However, the following description concentrates not on Abraham but on the miracle of the Reed Sea which more obviously revealed His saving power.
Isa 43:16-17
‘Thus says Yahweh,
Who makes a way in the sea,
And a path in the mighty waters,
Who brings forth the chariot and horse,
The army and the power,
They lie down together,
They shall not rise,
They are extinct,
Quenched as flax.’
The idea here is that this smiting of Babylon will be done by the Deliverer of Israel Who by His mighty power had delivered His people from Egypt and from Pharaoh’s army at the Reed Sea. And we may see as indicated within these verses that just as Yahweh delivered Israel at the Exodus from the mighty power of Egypt, by the exercise of His Own mighty power, so will now He destroy the power being exercised from Babylon.
The way in the sea and the path in the mighty waters was a poetic description of the crossing of the Reed Sea by which His people finally obtained their freedom from oppression and the concentration is not on the journey but on the ‘way’ in which they were delivered from the pursuing forces. He provided them a safe way to walk in. The chariot and horse being brought forth was a reminder of the way that Pharaoh’s chariot force and cavalry were drawn into God’s snare, together with his army and all his power. The result was that they all ‘lay down’ not to rise. They became extinct like a quenched flame. They were drowned. All oppression ceased.
Isa 43:18-21
Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old,
Behold I will do a new thing,
Now will it spring forth, shall you not know it?
I will even make a way in the wilderness,
And rivers in the desert,
The beasts of the field will honour me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because I give waters in the wilderness,
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to my people, my chosen,
The people whom I formed for myself,
That they might set forth my praise.
God promises that once He has acted they will be able to forget the ancient wonders, because He will now do a new thing for them which they will be able to point at. He will make for His people ‘a way in the wilderness’. In Egypt he had provided a way in the sea which kept them safe. Here He will provide them with a way in the wilderness which will keep them safe. This may signify a water-endowed way set up by Yahweh in the ‘wilderness’ of Judah in which they now live, made a wilderness partly by Assyrio-Babylonian depredations, so that they can walk in it freely (compare 35. 1-2, 8) or it may be reminding them of the ‘way of the wilderness’ in which Yahweh had once enabled them to survive (Deu 8:15). In Isaiah ‘the way’ refers not to a journey but to the way of God’s paths (Isa 3:12), in contrast with the ‘way of the people’ (Isa 8:11), it is the way of the just which is uprightness (Isa 26:7), it is the way of His judgments (Isa 26:8). His own do not leave it through drunkenness (Isa 28:7), but rather when they begin to go astray to the right hand or to the left they hear a word behind them saying, “This is the way, walk in it” (Isa 30:21). In chapter 35 we were told it is ‘the way of holiness’ which He would make for His people to walk in. So the idea of ‘the way’ is not of a way on which to journey home, but of a way in which they can walk in the land
Here there is a special emphasis on the fact that it will be like a well-watered way in a dry wilderness area, envied and exulted in by the wild beasts. It would have every provision for their need. Provision of water is constantly Isaiah’s picture of blessing (Isa 30:25; Isa 32:2; Isa 33:21; Isa 41:18; Isa 66:12). Unlike us they did not have water on tap. Having water by the way was thus their idea of a good and pleasant land. So the inference is that their devastated and ruined land would once again be made a satisfying land for them to walk in. Rivers will be found in arid places, the wild animals, ostriches and jackals will honour Yahweh because the land has become so well watered, enabling His chosen people to drink their fill and be satisfied. And this will be because they are the ones whom He has chosen and formed for Himself so that they might show forth His praise. Note how this is then more emphatically spiritualised in Isa 44:1-5, where the water in dry places is like the Spirit at work in men’s hearts, and the specific connection is made back to this passage in the references to their being His chosen (Isa 43:20; Isa 44:1) and to being formed by Him (Isa 43:21; Isa 44:2). The picture then is of blessing in the land.
It is also possible that the ‘way in the wilderness’ was intended to remind them how, when they were wandering in the wilderness over their thirty eight year period of chastisement (when they were going nowhere), God had watched over them and cared for them even when there was no water (Deu 8:15). This would therefore be much better for them than that period. Now there would be water in the way that they had to tread. Note also that the ‘way of the wilderness’ is often spoken of as being the wilder areas in Israel/Judah (Jos 8:15; Jdg 20:42 ; 2Sa 2:24; 2Sa 15:23), not a way outside it. The Assyrian and Babylonian depredations just produced more of it. Here those wildernesses, which had multiplied after the Assyrian invasion, would now become watered.
Some seek to make this indicate a journey but there is no suggestion of them travelling either here or in any of the similar descriptions and comparison with parallel passages demonstrates that that is not the significance of the words (e.g. Isa 29:17; Isa 32:15; Isa 35:1-10; Isa 41:17-20; Isa 44:3-5). The idea of a journey is never emphasised. (Although if we did see it as a journey it is the one described in Isa 43:6-7, the return from world-wide exile of all the people of Israel). It is more their walk in their own land that is in mind. They were used to walking in the heat along dusty trails in their own land, which had now partly become a wilderness, and longing for water from a spring was a common experience in the heat, so that a well-watered way in the wilderness would be a joy and delight (compare Isa 35:8-10). Here that longing would be satisfied in ‘the way’ that Yahweh provided. Note the interesting contrast between ‘the way in the sea and the path in the mighty waters’ (Isa 43:16), which is described elsewhere as ‘the way for the redeemed to pass over’ (to safety – Isa 51:10), emphasising the old way of escape provided from surrounding dangers, and ‘the way in the wilderness’ now become well-watered, provided for them to walk in, and so escape the wilderness, emphasising God’s provision for His own so that they might walk in the way of holiness. In devastated Judah at the time there would be many more ‘ways in the wilderness’ which were unsuitable to walk in than there had been, but for His own Yahweh would make one that was very suitable and abounding in water, so that they could walk in the way continually.
But its real fulfilment would be when His true people came home to Him through the ministry of Jesus and the church, to walk in ‘the way’. The early Christians saw themselves as the people of ‘The Way’ (Act 9:2; Act 19:9; Act 19:23; Act 22:4; Act 24:14; Act 24:22), and the designation may well have had verses like this in Isaiah in mind, as also may Jesus have had when He called Himself the Way (Joh 14:6). It is the Way of God. Here they would find abundantly poured out the ‘rain’ of the Holy Spirit of which they could drink and be satisfied (Isa 32:15; Isa 44:1-5; Joh 3:5; Joh 4:10; Joh 4:13-14; Joh 7:37). And it again will find its complete fulfilment in the heavenly Jerusalem, when those who have entered it, the nations who walk amidst its light, will find themselves beside the great and fruitful river of Paradise (Rev 21:24; Rev 22:1-5).
‘Do not remember the former things.’ The past is not to be the measure of the future. They will not need to dwell on the past. Deliverance in the past was partial, delivery in the future will be gloriously complete. They will speak of ‘God now’ and not ‘God then’. See especially Deu 32:7 onwards.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Proof That Jehovah Is The Holy One
v. 14. Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, v. 15. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, v. 16. Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, v. 17. which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, v. 18. Remember ye not the former things, v. 19. Behold, I will do a new thing, v. 20. The beast of the field, v. 21. This people,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 43:14-15, Thus saith the Lord In these verses the prophet foretels, and typically describes the benefit of deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, which God would perform for his people. The meaning, is, “I have sent to Babylon the Medes and Persians, with Cyrus at their head, who shall besiege Babylon, and that with so great consternation of the citizens and soldiers, that all of them, prepared for flight, and among the rest the Chaldeans, who were esteemed the best soldiers, shall fly with all imaginable speed to the vessels and boats which they have prepared to convey the commodities and luxuries of the Babylonians up the river Euphrates, in order to escape the hands of the Medes and Persians.” The latter part of the 14th verse is rendered by Vitringa, And have made all their fugitives, even the Chaldeans, go down into their pleasure-boats.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The title which, upon this occasion, the Lord takes to himself, is most gracious: for as the Church was about to be led into Babylon, nothing could more tend to keep up the spirits of the people during their captivity, than the recollection that still Jehovah was their Redeemer! And, Reader, is not the same view always precious to a child of God, when the enemy seems to triumph with a high hand? Isa 59:19 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 43:14 Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry [is] in the ships.
Ver. 14. Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer. ] For their greater comfort and confirmation, the prophet purposely premiseth to the promise of deliverance from Babylon these sweet attributes of God, each of them dropping myrrh and mercy.
For your sakes I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down.
All their nobles.
Whose cry is in the ships.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 43:14-21
14Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
For your sake I have sent to Babylon,
And will bring them all down as fugitives,
Even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice.
15I am the LORD, your Holy One,
The Creator of Israel, your King.
16Thus says the LORD,
Who makes a way through the sea
And a path through the mighty waters,
17Who brings forth the chariot and the horse,
The army and the mighty man
(They will lie down together and not rise again;
They have been quenched and extinguished like a wick):
18Do not call to mind the former things,
Or ponder things of the past.
19Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert.
20The beasts of the field will glorify Me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because I have given waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My chosen people.
21The people whom I formed for Myself
Will declare My praise.
Isa 43:14 will bring them all down as fugitives This refers to the fall of Babylon by Cyrus II. It was not Cyrus’ power that defeated Neo-Babylon but YHWH’s power and purpose (i.e., for your sake).
There is a possible revocalization of the Hebrew consonants.
1. fugitives (NASB, NKJV, NET Bible)
2. bars (JPSOA, NRSV, NJB, TEV)
the Chaldeans Herodotus (450 B.C.), Hist. I, uses this term to refer to an ethnic group (cf. 2Ki 24:1-4; Dan 5:30) as well as a priestly class (cf. Dan 2:2; Dan 3:8; Dan 4:7; Dan 5:7; Dan 5:11) whose usage goes back to Cyrus II. Even before this time period Assyrian records used the term (BDB 505) in an ethnic sense (cf. R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 1113). Also read the good discussion of the possibility of a confusion of two similar terms (i.e., Kal-du vs. Kasdu) in The Expositors Bible Commentary, vol. 7, pp. 14-15 or Robert Dick Wilson, Studies in the Book of Daniel, series 1.
Because Gen 11:28 states that Ur of the Chaldeans was the home of Terah and his family, Chaldeans may have been ethnically Semitic (i.e., same racial group as the Hebrews).
There is another possible revocalization of the Hebrew consonants.
1. into the ships (NASB, NKJV)
2. in lamentation (JPSOA, NRSV, NJB, TEV, REB, NET Bible)
3. the LXX has bound in ships
It is possible that Isa 43:14 should be taken as Babylonian people thinking they could escape the Persian army by floating down river (i.e., Euphrates) in their ships.
Isa 43:15 your King This is possible linked to 2 Samuel 7.
Isa 43:16 This uses (1) the Exodus from Egypt (cf. Isa 43:17; Exodus 14-15) as an example for the return from Babylon or (2) YHWH’s control of the waters of chaos.
I will do something new See full note at Isa 62:2.
Isa 43:19 I will even make a roadway in the wilderness This is a very common biblical theme (cf. Isa 40:1-4).
Rivers The Dead Sea Scrolls have paths (REB).
Isa 43:20 Instead of curses (cf. Deuteronomy 27-29) the beasts became tame. Nature blooms and produces in light of YHWH’s presence and blessings.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Redeemer = Kinsman- Redeemer. Hebrew. Go’el. See note on Exo 6:6.
Babylon. This is the first occurrence of the name in Isaiah.
their nobles = all of them in flight.
Whose cry is in the ships = the ships which resound with loud outcries (compare Lam 2:19. Num 24:24).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 43:14-16. Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King. Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty water;
Great events in history all have some connection with the Church of Christ. We may not always be able to see it, but we may rest assured that it is so. The rise and fall of empires have a great deal to do with the chosen people of God. So here he reminds them of what he did in the ancient days when he smote Egypt at the Red sea, and made a path for his people through the mighty waters.
Isa 43:17. Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
There is a little blaze and a little smoke, and then all is over with the tow. So shall it be with those who set themselves up against the Lord; he shall confound their wisdom, and humble their pride.
Isa 43:18-19. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the thing of old. Behold I will do a new thing;
What God has done once, he can do again; but he can also make yet grander and more marvellous displays of his power and grace than he has ever yet given.
Isa 43:19-20. Now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters, in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
If then, O child of God, thou art in sore distress; if all around thee is comfortless as a waste, howling wilderness; yet do not despair; God can make a way for thee even there, and can supply thy needs. He can open up a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the midst of the desert; joy and rejoicing may come to thee even in the depths of thy distress.
Isa 43:21. This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
He will not be disappointed in his people. He made them that he might get glory out of them, and he will surely have it; none shall be able to prevent it.
Isa 43:22-24. But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
Remember that this is the wearied Lord who is speaking, the Lord whose patience seems to be well-nigh exhausted by the provocations of his people; yet how wonderful is his message to them!
Isa 43:25-26. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
If thou hast anything to say in thine own defense, out with it. Come to me, and let the cause of this quarrel be removed; let me hear thy plea if thou hast one.
Isa 43:27-28. Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me. Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
God justifies himself for his heavy strokes upon Israel, tells them that the reason lay in their own sin.
This exposition consisted of readings from Isa 43:14-28; and Isa 44:1-8.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Isa 43:14-21
Isa 43:14-21
“Thus saith Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; for your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans in the ships of their rejoicing. I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Thus saith Jehovah, who maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; who bringeth forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as a wick): Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now shall it spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people which I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise.”
Isa 43:14 – The mention here of “ships of their rejoicing” takes us back to the times when Isaiah lived, because at that time Babylon was indeed a maritime power, a fact that ended with the conquest of Cyrus, this fact fitting Isaiah as the author, not some imaginary prophet after the exile.
“I have sent to Babylon …” (Isa 43:14). “Here again we have the past perfect tense, the tense of prophetic certainty. This, of course, is a prophecy of Cyrus’ coming against Babylon to destroy it,
God here promised to do “a new thing.” It would be an even greater thing than that of the Exodus from Egypt; and “for the real fulfillment of this, we must look beyond the modest homecomings from Babylon, although these are in view, to that great Exodus which God accomplished in Jerusalem (Luk 9:31), which alone justifies the language of this and kindred passages.
We have already noted that God has used the word “Redeemer” as his title in the rescue of Israel, and that this word comes from an old Hebrew requirement that the “next of kin …. the Redeemer” was obligated to purchase his kinsman back from slavery if necessary; and here we have that word again; but it was surely a fact lost on the Jews of that day that the “redeemer” who would give himself as a sacrifice to redeem Israel would be a far different person from any that the Jews might have supposed.
This passage (Isa 43:14) promises that Babylon shall be destroyed, by Cyrus, although he is not mentioned by name until Isaiah 44. The citizens of Babylon will take flight in their ships which were widely used in the navigation of the Euphrates, which, according to Kelley, “They used to transport their idols along the Euphrates, during the New Year Festival. Lowth explains that due to the method of Cyrus’ attack on Babylon, by changing the Euphrates out of its course, the suitability of that great river for navigation was greatly reduced; and besides, the Persians built dams and other obstructions which destroyed that use of the river.
The imperative clauses of Isaiah 18 forbid the Jews to dwell upon past deliverances at the hands of God because, “God’s future interpositions upon behalf of Israel would be so marvelous that all past deliverances shall be forgotten in comparison.
Isa 43:14-17 OPPRESSOR DEFEATED: God makes a prophetic decree. He dooms Babylon, the oppressor of His covenant remnant, before Judah is taken captive. Babylon is already looming on the political horizon as a pagan world power standing in opposition to Gods redemptive people (cf. comments on chapter 39, Vol. II). How does Jehovah send to Babylon and bring them down? Apparently this is a prophecy of the Persian conquest of Babylon. It was the Persians who after conquering Babylon, decreed and financed the return of the Jews to Palestine (see Daniel, chapters 7-9). The Persians served as Gods instrument to execute His deliverance of Judah. There is a great deal of irony in the predicted Babylonian fall. They will flee like fugitives. Once proud, secure, self-sufficient, powerful Babylon who made so many flee their homelands as fugitives will suffer the same fate (see Habakkuks description of the fall of Babylon). Even more ironic, the great fleet of merchant ships and navy vessels which made Babylon so rich and powerful, and which brought so much gladness to the hearts of the Babylonians, will be jammed full of terrified, fleeing fugitives. The Chaldeans, like the Assyrians, had mighty warrior kings. They were rich, powerful and pompous. They were feared and idolized by all the world. But Israels king is King of kings! He is Jehovah, Creator, Judge, Holy One and Redeemer. Though Israel might appear to be without a king during the captivity in Babylon, her King would demonstrate His power time and time again (cf. Dan 2:47; Dan 3:28; Dan 4:37; Dan 6:25-27). Finally, He would demonstrate His sovereignty in the restoration of the nation under Ezra, Zerubbabel and Nehemiah (cf. 2Ch 36:22-23; Ezr 1:1-4). The way in the sea in Isa 43:16-17 is a metaphorical allusion to Jehovahs deliverance of the children of Israel through the Red Sea under the leadership of Moses. Just as Jehovah overcame natural obstacles and powerful, wicked human oppressors when He delivered Israel from Egypt, so He will deliver Israel from her captivities under Assyria and Babylon. That mighty Egyptian army with its chariots of war, before which Israel trembled and cringed, lay extinct at the bottom of the Red Sea. So, Jehovah will snuff out the mighty Babylonian empire in one night! (cf. Dan 5:1-30).
Isa 43:18-21 OPPRESSED DELIVERED: But, as grand and glorious as these great national deliverances are, they are warned they should not let their hopes rest on them. God is going to do a new thing much more glorious. The new thing is apparently not just the deliverance from the Babylonian captivity, though that is its starting place. It must be more than that for the deliverance from captivity is not any more glorious than the exodus from Egypt. The new thing in itself is the wondrous new redemption accomplished in the death and resurrection of the Messiah (cf. Isa 42:9-10; Isa 48:6; Isa 62:2; Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22; Eze 11:19; Eze 36:26; Eze 18:31, for the new thing God is going to do in the messianic kingdom). Even now it was beginning to be apparent to those who had the faith to see it. The revelations of Ezekiel (40-47) and Daniel (7-12) graphically outlined the mission of Israel as prototypical of the redemption for all mankind from their captivity in sin. Men of faith, like Daniel, recognized that God was already beginning to do this new thing. They anxiously desired to know when it would come to its completion (cf. Dan 12:5 f; 1Pe 1:10-12). The figurative language describing a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, is a favorite vehicle of prophetic literature to describe the messianic blessedness (cf. Isa 19:23; Isa 35:1-10; Isa 51:3, etc.). When God shall have finally and fully regenerated men, nature itself shall also be redeemed (cf. Rom 8:18-25). This, too, is a much used expression of the prophets to show that, as Keil and Delitzsch say, when the sufferings of the people of God shall be brought to an end, the sufferings of creation will also terminate; for humanity is the heart of the universe, and the people of God (understanding by this the people of God according to the Spirit) are the heart of humanity. In other words, the consummation of Gods redemptive work will result in the reclamation of men and nature which were cursed in the garden of Eden because of sin. God is working in regenerate men by the power of the gospel received and lived by faith. Regenerated man will then be at harmony with his God, himself and Gods creation. At this point, God will redeem his natural creation and create a new heaven and a new earth (2Pe 3:13). Thus, Paradise will be restored. But it is not the surroundings, the natural environment that is significant. God can make that over by sheer force. He has made man with a free will to choose his own destiny. The remaking of man is all important. Heaven will not be heaven so much for that natural place in which we find ourselves as that nature which is found in us. No better commentary on Isa 43:21 can be found than that in 1Pe 2:9 : But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Gods own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
a Way in the Wilderness
Isa 43:14-28
Let uptake care lest we thwart Gods purpose in our lives. We were made to show forth His praise, Isa 43:21; but we must beware of causing a revoking of His gracious purpose (See Num 14:34, r.v. margin): by prayerlessness, Isa 43:22; by the neglect of little things, Isa 43:23; by the lack of sweetness and tenderness in our disposition, Isa 43:24. Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will He spare thee, Rom 11:20-21, r.v.
On the other hand, directly sin is repented of and put away, it is blotted out, Isa 43:25. It is persistence in sin that causes God to turn from us. If we forsake what is evil, as soon as we are conscious of it, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. It is blotted out as a cloud from the sky and no more remembered against us forever. This is done for Gods own sake. The reason for our salvation and deliverance is not in us, but in Him. The cross of shame and sorrow was His own expedient, and the Lamb in the midst of the throne is the emblem of the divine Atonement, which was commenced and finished by the inexplicable grace of God.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
the Lord: Isa 43:1, Isa 44:6, Isa 54:5-8, Psa 19:14, Rev 5:9
For: Isa 43:3, Isa 43:4, Isa 44:24-28, Isa 45:1-5, Jer 50:2-11, Jer 50:17, Jer 50:18, Jer 50:27-34, Jer 51:1-11, Jer 51:24, Jer 51:34-37, Rev 18:20, Rev 18:21
nobles: Heb. bars, Isa 45:2
whose cry: Eze 27:29-36, Rev 18:11-19
Reciprocal: Psa 89:18 – Holy Isa 13:1 – of Babylon Isa 14:22 – I will Isa 37:23 – the Holy One Isa 41:14 – saith Isa 45:4 – Jacob Isa 47:4 – our redeemer Isa 48:17 – the Lord Isa 54:15 – shall fall Isa 63:16 – General Jer 50:34 – Redeemer Jer 50:36 – upon the liars Jer 51:36 – I will plead Eze 17:4 – into Eze 39:7 – the Holy Amo 1:5 – break Zep 3:19 – I will undo
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 43:14. For your sake I have sent to Babylon I have sent Cyrus, and the Medes and Persians with him, to war against Babylon, to this very end, that he might deliver you out of captivity, and restore you to your land, according to my promise. I have brought down From that height of power and glory to which they were advanced; all their nobles Their princes and great commanders. Bishop Lowth prefers the reading of the margin, (the word properly signifying bars,) and renders the next clauses, I will bring down all her strong bars, and the Chaldeans exulting in their ships. On which he observes, Babylon was very advantageously situated, both in respect to commerce, and as a naval power. It was open to the Persian gulf by the Euphrates, which was navigable by large vessels; and, being joined to the Tigris above Babylon, by the canal called Naharmalca, or the royal river, supplied the city with the produce of the whole country to the north of it, as far as the Euxine and Caspian seas. Herod, 1., 194. We are not to wonder that in later times we hear little of the commerce and naval power of Babylon: for, after the taking of the city by Cyrus, the Euphrates was not only rendered less fit for navigation by being, on that occasion, diverted from its course, and left to spread over the country; but the Persian monarchs, residing in their own country, to prevent any invasion by sea on that part of their empire, purposely obstructed the navigation of both rivers, by making cataracts in them, that is, by raising dams across the channel, and making artificial falls in them; that no vessel, of any size or force, could possibly come up. Strabo, lib. 16. Alexander began to restore the navigation of the river by demolishing the cataracts upon the Tigris, as far up as Seleucia; but he did not live to finish his great designs: those upon the Euphrates still continued.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 43:14-21. Yahweh will Work for His People a Deliverance more Wonderful than the Exodus.
Isa 43:14 is too corrupt to be translated with confidence. RV understands it to refer to a flight by water of the Babylonians from their fallen city. Yahweh recalls His peoples passage through the Red Sea, when He overwhelmed the Egyptians. So much more wonderful will be His new achievement that it will be quoted instead of the Exodus as the supreme evidence of His redeeming power. He will make a road for the exiles through the wilderness, and cause rivers to spring forth in the arid desert; the wild creatures of the wilderness shall praise Him in gratitude.
Isa 43:15. Omit am.
Isa 43:16. Something has been lost after Lord.
Isa 43:17. Translate, Army and warriors together. They lie down and cannot rise.
Isa 43:19. Translate, I am doing . . . it is springing . . . do ye not perceive it?
Isa 43:20 b, Isa 43:21. A late gloss; notice the change from the 2nd to the 3rd person.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
43:14 Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have {n} brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry [is] in {o} the ships.
(n) By Darius and Cyrus.
(o) They will cry when they would escape by my water, seeing that the course of the Euphrates is turned another way by the enemy.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Yahweh, Israel’s Redeemer and the Holy One of Israel (cf. Isa 41:14), would bring judgment on Babylon for the sake of the Israelites. His judgment would be for their sake in two senses: it would demonstrate His sovereignty to them in a fresh way, and it would fulfill His covenant promises to preserve them. The Babylonians would flee as fugitives from the Lord and His instrument of punishment, the Medo-Persians. Isaiah pictured them fleeing in boats, sailing south down the Euphrates River. Note the similarity between the Babylonians in their ships on their river and the Egyptians, who also sailed ships on their river, the Nile. The Chaldeans, so-called by the Assyrians, were the warriors of southern Mesopotamia who forged the Babylonian Empire.